Night Out

2

2

"Twenty questions?" Rahul asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Ayesha.

"No. It's lame."

She scoffed. "Guess what? So are you."

"I know," he replied and closed his eyes again. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

She sighed. "Don't ask."

"Okay."

Ayesha frowned. "I didn't mean it that literally..."

Rahul sighed and opened his eyes, turning to face her. "What do you want exactly, Raizada?"

"I - I..." She turned nervous all of a sudden.

"Keep going. I'm still listening."

"Um, I'm locked out of my house."

"No one's in, huh?"

"Nope. My parents are inside sleeping with their ears closed purposefully. They are giving me punishment by locking me out of the house for a night."

"They aren't afraid something might happen to you?"

"Pssh. You really think something wrong will happen to me in this colony? I don't think so."

"True."

He turned his head forward, and closed his eyes once more. Ayesha kept staring at him. He didn't seem neither nervous nor angry. He in fact was relaxed and noncholant. If it weren't for the bag, no one would've guessed he ran away from his house. Which made Ayesha have another thought.

"Rahul?" she asked, softly, afraid he was asleep.

"Hmm," he asnwered, eyes still closed.

"You live nearby?"

"Yeah."

"How come I never saw you around? I've been here since I was two."

"But I came around only a few months earlier. I know where your house is. It's on the opposite direction of mine. And you never even roamed around this colony anymore, right? You're always hanging around those people... ah, they're your friends, right?" He joked.

She slapped his arm. "Hey! They are my friends!"

"Then how come you didn't call anyone for help after your parents kicked you out?"

That got her thinking. Why didn't you, Ayesha? "Because that would've made my parents more angry," she answered.

Rahul shrugged. "If that's what you say."

Ayesha checked her phone, and it was dead. All the battery was gone. She sighed, and pushed the phone into the pocket inside of her jacket. The wind blew harder, and she clutched onto her jacket more tightly. She was so glad her parents left it for her. She remembered the biscuit packet she was tucked into another pocket and took it out. Unfortunately, it was all crumbled except for about three pieces.

Taking out the good ones, she threw the packet along with the crumbs into a nearby dustbin. She bit half of one, and she realized how good it felt. She was hungry. Swiftly, she finished swallowing the half of a biscuit and stuffed the other half in her mouth.

The eating noise made Rahul look at her, curiously. He saw Ayesha hungrily eating the second biscuit. When Ayesha noticed Rahul was staring, she offered the third one to him. Smiling, he rejected it and instead watched as she ate the third one too.

"Still hungry?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"You want to grab some chaat?" he asked.